THE MOCKING BIRD. 



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birds, as many other species do. The above account does not contain all that I wish you to 

 know of the habits of this remarkable songster, so I shall shift the scene to the woods and 

 wilds, where we shall examine it more particularly. The Mocking-bird remains in Louisiana the 

 whole year. I have observed with astonishment that towards the end of October, when those 

 which had gone to the Eastern States some as far as Boston have returned, they are instantly 

 known to the ' Southrons,' who attack them on all occasions. I have ascertained this by observing 

 the greater shyness exhibited by the strangers for weeks after their arrival. This shyness, 

 however, is shortly over, as well as the animosity displayed by the resident birds, and during the 

 \vinter there exists a great appearance of sociality among the united tribes. In the beginning of 

 April, sometimes a fortnight earlier, the Mocking-birds pair and construct their nests. In some 



MOCKING BIRD. 



instances they are so careless as to place the nest between the rails of a fence directly by the 

 road. I have frequently found it in such places, or in the fields, as well as in briars, but 

 always so easily discoverable that any person desirous of procuring one might do so in a very 

 snort time. It is coarsely constructed on the outside, being there composed of dried sticks of 

 briar, withered leaves of trees, and grasses, mixed with wool. Internally it is finished with 

 fibrous roots, disposed in a circular form, but carelessly arranged. The female lays from four to 

 six eggs the first time, four or five the next, and when there is a third brood, which is some- 

 times the case, seldom more than three, of which I have rarely found more than two hatched. 

 The eggs are of a short oval form, light green, blotched and spotted with amber. The young of 

 the last brood, not being able to support themselves until late in the season, when many of the 

 berries and insects have become scarce, are stunted in growth, a circumstance which has induced 

 some persons to imagine the existence in the United States of two species of Common Mocking- 

 bird, a larger and a smaller. This, however, as far as my observation goes, is not correct. The 

 first brood is frequently brought to the bird-market in New Orleans as early as the middle of 

 April. A little farther up the country they are out by the 15th of May. The second brood is 

 hatched in July, and the third in the latter part of September. The nearer you approach to the 

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